Serbia's Student Cyclists Welcomed in Strasbourg, Expect to Have Meetings at European Institutions

photo: Velimir Perovic

The Serbian student cyclists who departed from Novi Sad on April 3 arrived in the evening on April 15 in Strasbourg, where gathered citizens had been waiting for them for hours.

They were welcomed in Place Kleber square with a red carpet, chanting and the opening of a bottle of champagne.

Strasbourg is the last point in the Tour to Strasbourg: Pedaling for the Truth, which the students set off on from Novi Sad on April 3, with the aim of drawing the European public's attention to the situation in Serbia. N1 TV reporters said that the cycling group included 80 students - 71 young men and nine young women - and that they all reached the destination.

A representative of Strasbourg Mayor Jeanne Barseghian wished the students a warm welcome.

The anthems of the EU and Serbia were played and then a number of songs were sung accompanied by a piano set up in the square, with the song This Is Serbia met with cheering and applause. Italian pianist Davide Martello, who had been expelled from Serbia several days prior for playing for the protesting students in Nis, also played at the gathering.

MEPs from Croatia and Slovenia were among the welcoming crowd.
Croatian MEP Gordan Bosanac underscored that the emotions that could be felt at the welcoming ceremonies organized for students in Serbian cities could definitely be felt in Strasbourg, the center of Europe, too. Bosanac said that "there has been a sort of silence the whole time" in the European Parliament regarding events in Serbia, but that students had now "made a kind of breakthrough."

He added that a debate on Serbia would be held in the European Parliament in May and that he hoped the discussion would be open and honest and that students' voices would be heard in it.

The plan is for the student cyclists to go on a tour of European institutions on April 16, namely the European Parliament, European Court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe, where they will first hold a 16-minute silent tribute to the 16 people killed in the Novi Sad railway station tragedy.

The students' return to Serbia is to be organized already in the evening on April 16 or on April 17, according to one of the cyclists.